A tourniquet is used to stop bleeding when an injury is severe enough to block blood flow. Without prompt treatment, hemorrhaging can occur within five minutes – so having this tool in your first aid kit is essential.

A properly applied tourniquet should be tight enough to stop bleeding yet not so tight that it causes ischemia – or nerve damage – in the target area.

Additionally, it should be tight enough to completely block off the distal pulse and prevent blood from seeping into the extremity.

Never leave a tourniquet on for longer than one minute, and it is best to remove it after performing blood draws or cannula placement. Doing this helps avoid hemoconcentration errors and other laboratory issues that could arise if the tourniquet is left on too long.

How long can a tourniquet remain on when drawing blood?

Applying a tourniquet correctly can significantly reduce or stop bleeding before emergency responders arrive. It’s essential to identify where the source of the bleeding before applying it so that the tourniquet is placed correctly to minimize further blood loss.

Avoid leaving doctors to draw blood tourniquets, as this may affect the interpretation of your test results. Prolonged application of the tourniquet puts additional pressure against vessels and allows plasma and small molecules to leak into veins, leading to falsely higher values.

To avoid this, the polyurethane tourniquet should be applied and removed within two hours of the injury. It’s also wise to record when you last applied it so first responders can see when you last did so. This is especially crucial if treating multiple casualties; blood can bleed quickly in five minutes when someone is bleeding severely, so act quickly when treating someone who’s bleeding heavily.

How to Remove a Tourniquet

For many decades, it was believed that applying a reusable tourniquet was only used as a last resort when other methods failed to stop bleeding from an arm or leg.

Once a tourniquet has been applied to an arm or leg of a patient, it is imperative that it be removed promptly and not left on the body, as this could lead to further complications.

To avoid this from occurring, it is essential that all tourniquets be correctly placed and tightened to completely stop the distal pulse.

This can be accomplished in several ways. The most popular is to place the tourniquet under the patient’s arm, four finger widths from their cubital fossa.

Tips for minimizing the risks of tourniquets

• Tourniquets should only be used when no other method of control is working, such as in car accidents or gunshot wounds. They are most often utilized during emergency situations like car crashes or gunshot wounds.
• Pressure should be adjusted according to a limb’s length and thickness since these can vary. Larger limbs require more pressure in order to fully restrict blood flow.
• Never rotate a tourniquet that is already in place, as this could cause shearing forces, which could damage the tissues beneath. This is especially risky for individuals with vascular disease or impaired circulation, such as Raynaud’s syndrome and peripheral vascular disease.
• When applying a single-use tourniquet, always wear gloves to prevent finger severing. Furthermore, keep the tourniquet on for at least 60 minutes to guarantee adequate pressure against blood loss.
• Tracking the time and location of the tourniquet application is essential for rescuers to communicate with medical personnel who may arrive on the scene. Many commercial tourniquets feature visual markings that can serve to indicate when and where the application occurred.

Conclusion

Caretek Tourniquets are an excellent option for any practitioner who requires high-quality tourniquets in their arsenal. Manufactured by Wenzhou Caretek Medical Device Co, these TQs provide top performance at a reasonable price point. If you wish to know about Best Tourniquet in 2023 -The Complete guide, click here.